Comments on: Rotten-ripe: The Medlar Goes Softhttp://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 22:37:37 +0000http://wordpress.org/?v=abchourly1By: Ed Widgerhttp://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/comment-page-1/#comment-28707
Ed WidgerTue, 27 Jul 2010 18:03:24 +0000http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/?p=759#comment-28707I have a Medlar tree in my garden approx thirty years old. Last year the leaves turned brown and crisp and fell off. I thought it might be the very wet summer causing this problem. However, this year the same problem has occurred, during the month of June, which was an unusually dry month. Can someone advise on what is the cause of this problem?I have a Medlar tree in my garden approx thirty years old. Last year the leaves turned brown and crisp and fell off. I thought it might be the very wet summer causing this problem. However, this year the same problem has occurred, during the month of June, which was an unusually dry month. Can someone advise on what is the cause of this problem?
]]>By: Christahttp://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/comment-page-1/#comment-28635
ChristaTue, 20 Jul 2010 01:55:34 +0000http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/?p=759#comment-28635Perhaps your cat needs vegetables in her diet. We had a cat that used to climb the Liquidambar tree in the front yard in the spring and eat the budding leaves, until we started feeding her a cat food that had diced carrots in it. After that she quit eating the leaves, and that was always her favorite variety of cat food.Perhaps your cat needs vegetables in her diet. We had a cat that used to climb the Liquidambar tree in the front yard in the spring and eat the budding leaves, until we started feeding her a cat food that had diced carrots in it. After that she quit eating the leaves, and that was always her favorite variety of cat food.
]]>By: looloohttp://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/comment-page-1/#comment-27134
loolooMon, 07 Jun 2010 21:19:29 +0000http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/?p=759#comment-27134Hello,
I`ve a 15 year old medlar tree here in Gloucestershire, and it produces huge amounts of fruit each year, the locals (who call it Fanny Fruit, Sorry!) collect the fruit after it has fallen & make delicious Medlar jelly, however my 4 year old Burmese cat eats the new leaves, she seems to be fine, can anyone give me a possible reason why?Hello,
I`ve a 15 year old medlar tree here in Gloucestershire, and it produces huge amounts of fruit each year, the locals (who call it Fanny Fruit, Sorry!) collect the fruit after it has fallen & make delicious Medlar jelly, however my 4 year old Burmese cat eats the new leaves, she seems to be fine, can anyone give me a possible reason why?
]]>By: Deirdre Larkinhttp://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/comment-page-1/#comment-21364
Deirdre LarkinTue, 06 Apr 2010 20:07:47 +0000http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/?p=759#comment-21364Dear Evelyn,
I'm glad you found your way to our medlars, and am very interested to hear that the fruits are not cooked in Iran. I haven't cooked with them myself---I think that they are delicious softened and rotten-ripe, and are very good with fortified wines. The liquor made with vodka sounds intriguing. We did not have as good a crop last autumn as we had the year before, but I look forward to next year. I'm also growing medlars at my country place upstate, but they are not bearing yet---it is in the mountains and the winter there is long and cold, which slows everything down.Dear Evelyn,

I’m glad you found your way to our medlars, and am very interested to hear that the fruits are not cooked in Iran. I haven’t cooked with them myself—I think that they are delicious softened and rotten-ripe, and are very good with fortified wines. The liquor made with vodka sounds intriguing. We did not have as good a crop last autumn as we had the year before, but I look forward to next year. I’m also growing medlars at my country place upstate, but they are not bearing yet—it is in the mountains and the winter there is long and cold, which slows everything down.

]]>By: Evelyn Majidihttp://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/comment-page-1/#comment-19480
Evelyn MajidiTue, 16 Mar 2010 14:55:55 +0000http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/?p=759#comment-19480I have just discovered this wonderful website. Many thanks, Deirdre, for making all of this information available. In an earlier incarnation I spent many years in Iran, where medlars (known in Persian as asgeel) are as common in the autumn as apples are here. The variety Iranians cultivate are more elongated than the ones pictured here, and they are delicious. I never tried cooking them (no Iranian would think of cooking them) but one time I made a superb liquor by forcing the crushed fruit through cheesecloth, adding vodka to the juice, and letting the mixture steep. I planted a medlar here in New York some years ago, but after two years of producing lovely flowers and a few fruit, it died. In removing the tree I noticed that an insect completely girdled its trunk, just below the surface of the earth. Better luck with yours!I have just discovered this wonderful website. Many thanks, Deirdre, for making all of this information available. In an earlier incarnation I spent many years in Iran, where medlars (known in Persian as asgeel) are as common in the autumn as apples are here. The variety Iranians cultivate are more elongated than the ones pictured here, and they are delicious. I never tried cooking them (no Iranian would think of cooking them) but one time I made a superb liquor by forcing the crushed fruit through cheesecloth, adding vodka to the juice, and letting the mixture steep. I planted a medlar here in New York some years ago, but after two years of producing lovely flowers and a few fruit, it died. In removing the tree I noticed that an insect completely girdled its trunk, just below the surface of the earth. Better luck with yours!
]]>By: Deirdre Larkinhttp://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/comment-page-1/#comment-16110
Deirdre LarkinTue, 23 Feb 2010 18:43:25 +0000http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/?p=759#comment-16110Dear Mary Jane,
Thank you very much for the information about capers---I had not known that they were considered aphrodisiac. It has been a long time since I have had the happiness of visiting Etruria, and envy you your caper-covered dwelling-place.Dear Mary Jane,

Thank you very much for the information about capers—I had not known that they were considered aphrodisiac. It has been a long time since I have had the happiness of visiting Etruria, and envy you your caper-covered dwelling-place.

]]>By: mary jane cryanhttp://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/comment-page-1/#comment-9679
mary jane cryanWed, 02 Dec 2009 12:41:58 +0000http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/?p=759#comment-9679There is a lot of information on the town of Vetralla's English connections on my website www.elegantetruria.com and even more on my up-coming book. "Etruria Past and Present" which will be published in a few months...we are checking the proofs now. Its not easy to produce a book in English here in small town Italy.
About the capers...they grow spontaneously on all the south facing walls of this town and nearby Villa Lante, the magnificent Renaissance gardens. The cardinals who lived there enjoyed them (they considered them aphrodosiac) as well as sorbets for they had an underground "snow house" too.There is a lot of information on the town of Vetralla’s English connections on my website http://www.elegantetruria.com and even more on my up-coming book. “Etruria Past and Present” which will be published in a few months…we are checking the proofs now. Its not easy to produce a book in English here in small town Italy.

About the capers…they grow spontaneously on all the south facing walls of this town and nearby Villa Lante, the magnificent Renaissance gardens. The cardinals who lived there enjoyed them (they considered them aphrodosiac) as well as sorbets for they had an underground “snow house” too.

]]>By: Deirdre Larkinhttp://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/comment-page-1/#comment-432
Deirdre LarkinFri, 09 Jan 2009 17:15:41 +0000http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/?p=759#comment-432Claudia,
Capers, <em>Capparis spinosa</em>, of which both the pickled flower buds and the fruits or berries are eaten, are discussed in the medieval health handbook known as the Tacuinum Sanitatis, or Tables of Health. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacuinum_sanitatis
The handbook deals with dietary prescriptions for balancing the four humors in individuals of different ages, temperaments, and conditions. According to the Tacuinum, capers are of medicinal value for their warming and drying properties.
Based on an eleventh-century Arabic medical treatise, the work survives in three complete illuminated manuscripts, all of which were produced in Italy in the late fourteenth century. These are now in Paris, Vienna, and the Casanatense Library in Rome.
According to Luisa Cogliati Arano, both the Paris and the Casatenense manuscripts characterize capers as warm in the third degree and dry in the second. Their warming and drying qualities are said to be medicinally useful in reducing the quantity of urine, although they also reduce blood and sperm, which is considered a detriment. The danger of the latter is said to be neutralized by consuming them with vinegar.
The Vienna manuscript, which lists capers as warm in the second degree, has a fuller explication of their medicinal virtues. They are said to help the stomach and increase the appetite, remove occlusions of the liver and the spleen, and kill worms. According to this manuscript, they are difficult to digest and should be cooked with oil, vinegar, and aromatic spices. Capers are also said to heat the blood and to be suitable for people with cold temperaments, for consumption in winter and in cold regions, and for both old people and children. (Luisa Cogliati Arano, The Medieval Health Handbook: Tacuinum Sanitatis, 1976)Claudia,

Capers, Capparis spinosa, of which both the pickled flower buds and the fruits or berries are eaten, are discussed in the medieval health handbook known as the Tacuinum Sanitatis, or Tables of Health. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacuinum_sanitatis

The handbook deals with dietary prescriptions for balancing the four humors in individuals of different ages, temperaments, and conditions. According to the Tacuinum, capers are of medicinal value for their warming and drying properties.

Based on an eleventh-century Arabic medical treatise, the work survives in three complete illuminated manuscripts, all of which were produced in Italy in the late fourteenth century. These are now in Paris, Vienna, and the Casanatense Library in Rome.

According to Luisa Cogliati Arano, both the Paris and the Casatenense manuscripts characterize capers as warm in the third degree and dry in the second. Their warming and drying qualities are said to be medicinally useful in reducing the quantity of urine, although they also reduce blood and sperm, which is considered a detriment. The danger of the latter is said to be neutralized by consuming them with vinegar.

The Vienna manuscript, which lists capers as warm in the second degree, has a fuller explication of their medicinal virtues. They are said to help the stomach and increase the appetite, remove occlusions of the liver and the spleen, and kill worms. According to this manuscript, they are difficult to digest and should be cooked with oil, vinegar, and aromatic spices. Capers are also said to heat the blood and to be suitable for people with cold temperaments, for consumption in winter and in cold regions, and for both old people and children. (Luisa Cogliati Arano, The Medieval Health Handbook: Tacuinum Sanitatis, 1976)

]]>By: Claudia Rousseauhttp://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/comment-page-1/#comment-428
Claudia RousseauMon, 05 Jan 2009 16:03:19 +0000http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/?p=759#comment-428Does anyone have any information about medieval/renaissance medicinal uses of the caper flower?Does anyone have any information about medieval/renaissance medicinal uses of the caper flower?
]]>By: Deirdre Larkinhttp://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/comment-page-1/#comment-371
Deirdre LarkinTue, 09 Dec 2008 15:40:10 +0000http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/?p=759#comment-371Klara,
You should not have to wait too long; medlars have a propensity to fruit early. The first crop might be very sparse, but your tree should come on quickly after that. We had considerably more fruit on our three-year old medlars this year than last. We bletted the medlars in baskets lined with clean wheatstraw and left them in the cool of the Gardens shed until they were soft---we had stored them away in the second week of November, and they were ready to eat by the end of the first week in December. We put them out on the dessert table for a holiday staff party here at the Museum last Friday, and they were quickly eaten up.Klara,

You should not have to wait too long; medlars have a propensity to fruit early. The first crop might be very sparse, but your tree should come on quickly after that. We had considerably more fruit on our three-year old medlars this year than last. We bletted the medlars in baskets lined with clean wheatstraw and left them in the cool of the Gardens shed until they were soft—we had stored them away in the second week of November, and they were ready to eat by the end of the first week in December. We put them out on the dessert table for a holiday staff party here at the Museum last Friday, and they were quickly eaten up.